The dissertation thesis is used as a methodology for prediction of selected parameters of rotational kinematic pairs of machine tools. The motivation for its writing has been continually increasing requirements for parameters (performance, accuracy, static and dynamic stiffness) of machine tools. The methodology takes into account the availability of suitable measuring devices and description of the design of rotary kinematic pairs. It will be useable for predicting the behavior of rotational kinematic pairs, even at the design stage by applying results to the machine design. The work is processed so that first is used a system approach to suggest methodology for prediction of the behavior of rotary kinematic pair in CNC machine tools, planning measurement strategy and verifying the results, including applications for specific kinematic chain of the selected machine. Based on this system approach and the resulting methodology, the measurement of the rotary kinematic pair was performed. The results of the system approach and measurement are generalized in the form of recommendations for designers of machining centers, allowing to increase the accuracy of the rotational kinematic pair.

Reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea) is a grass species that can dominate wet meadow plant communities. This study investigated if grazing by cattle on restored wet meadows suppresses reed canarygrass, thereby promoting the restored plant community. This study was conducted at two locations in northwest Minnesota. Management practices used were a patch-burn grazing treatment and a four-pasture high intensity-short duration grazing rotation. A pretreatment survey was conducted before grazing followed by annual surveys every five years after grazing. Both treatments reduced reed canarygrass canopy cover by 49 percent compared to non-grazed control sites. Grazed patches were moving towards a Carex dominated community. The community not invaded with reed canarygrass had similar native species richness at the end of the experiment in the rotational grazing treatment, and improved plant richness in the patch-burn grazing treatment. This study demonstrates grazing reduces cover of reed canarygrass, while maintaining or increasing native plant species richness.

Les cils sont des organites conservés au cours de l’évolution émanant de corps basaux et qui, motiles ou non, jouent des rôles essentiels dans de nombreux processus physiologiques. Leur formation est conditionnée par le positionnement et l’ancrage correct des corps basaux à la surface cellulaire. Chez la paramécie, trois protéines conservées, FOR20, Centrine 2 et Centrine 3 recrutées séquentiellement jouent un rôle dans ce processus d’ancrage. J’ai réalisé l’analyse fonctionnelle de deux autres protéines évolutivement conservées OFD1 et VFL3 susceptibles d’être impliquées dans cet ancrage. L’analyse d’OFD1 a été également dictée par le fait que sa fonction dans l’assemblage des cils motiles demeurait peu étudiée. Dans l’espèce Paramecium tetraurelia, qui a subi au moins trois duplications globales de son génome au cours de l’évolution, un seul gène code la protéine OFD1 tandis que deux familles VFL3-A et VFL3-B coexistent. La déplétion des protéines de la famille VFL3-B n’ayant pas produit d’effet je n’ai pas pu leur attribuer une fonction mais une de ses isoformes se localise au niveau des corps basaux. Bien qu’OFD1 et les protéines VFL3-A soient impliquées dans le positionnement et l’ancrage des corps basaux, les mécanismes dans lesquels elles interviennent sont différents. Pour OFD1 les défauts d’ancrage étaient associés à des anomalies de formation de la partie distale des corps basaux, ce qui est en accord avec la fonction connue de cette protéine dans l’assemblage des appendices distaux des corps basaux des cils primaires. Elle se localise au niveau de la zone de transition entre les doublets de microtubules et la membrane ciliaire. Les recrutements d’OFD1 et FOR20 au sein des corps basaux sont interdépendants alors qu’il n’y a pas de relation entre le recrutement d’OFD1 et celui de la Centrine 2. Ces observations démontrent une conservation fonctionnelle de la protéine OFD1 dans les mécanismes d’ancrage des cils motiles et précisent ses relations avec FOR20 et Centrine 2. Outre les défauts d’ancrage, la déplétion des deux isoformes VFL3-A induit une distribution anarchique des racines striées qui constituent des marqueurs de leur polarité rotationnelle. Ceci suggère que ces protéines sont impliquées dans l’établissement de cette polarité. Cette polarité étant indispensable au positionnement correct des différents appendices qui guident le mouvement des corps basaux néoformés vers la surface cellulaire, son altération pourrait expliquer les défauts d’ancrage observés. Une isoforme de VFL3-A se localise transitoirement à l’extrémité proximale des corps basaux pères à un stade précoce de leur duplication entre la racine striée et les microtubules auxquels elles sont associées. Cette protéine pourrait donc constituer un facteur extrinsèque contrôlant la polarité du corps basal. L’ensemble de ces résultats souligne la complexité du mécanisme d’ancrage des corps basaux chez cet organisme qui est conditionné non seulement par un assemblage correct de leur extrémité distale mais également par celui de ses structures associées en partie proximale. / Cilia are evolutionary conserved organelles developing from basal bodies and which play essential roles in many physiological processes. Their development depends upon a correct anchoring of basal bodies at the cell surface. In Paramecium, three conserved proteins, FOR20, Centrin 2 and Centrin 3, sequentially recruited are required for the anchoring process. I analyzed the function of two others conserved proteins, OFD1 and VFL3, likely involved in the anchoring process. In particular, the role of OFD1 in motile cilia biogenesis had not been really studied yet. In P. tetraurelia, which has undergone at least three global genome duplications, a single gene encodes OFD1, while two families VFL3-A and VFL3-B coexist. Depletion of the VFL3-B proteins produced no effect, but VFL3-3 was localized at the basal bodies. Although OFD1 and the VFL3-A proteins are both involved in the positioning and anchoring of the basal bodies, they participate in different mechanisms. Concerning OFD1, the anchoring defects reflected defects in basal body distal part assembly, in agreement with its known role in the assembly of the distal appendages of primary cilia. It localizes in the transition zone, between the microtubule doublets and the ciliary membrane. The recruitment of OFD1 and FOR20 to the basal bodies is interdependent, while OFD1 and Centrin2 were not. These observations demonstrate the conserved role of OFD1 in the anchoring mechanisms in motile cilia and clarify its relations with FOR20 and Centrin 2. In addition to the anchoring defects, depletion of the two VFL3-A isoforms causes an anarchic distribution of the striated rootlets which mark the rotational polarity of basal bodies. This suggests that these proteins are involved in the establishment of this polarity, required for the correct positioning of the different appendages which guide the neoformed basal bodies towards the cell surface. One isoform of VFL3-A is transiently localizes at the proximal tip of the mother basal body, at an early stage of its assembly, between the striated rootlet and the microtubules to which they are associated. VFL3-1 might then be an extrinsic polarity factor for the basal body. Altogether, these results underscore the complexity of the anchoring process which requires not only the correct assembly of the distal part but also of the proximal appendages in Paramecium.

MSc (Mathematics) / Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics / See the attached abstract below

Focusing on reducing the air consumption of an air flotation rail system, a flowrate-amplified flotation element was recently developed. This new flotation element ulitises the rotational flow to intake extra air via an intake hole, and thus, effectively improves the flotation height. Compared to a conventional flotation element, the flowrate-amplified flotation element can reduce air consumption by approximately 50% for the same load and flotation height. To gain an understanding of the flow phenomenon in the flowrate-amplified flotation element, experiments and CFD simulations are conducted in this study. Based on the results, we found that the flowrate-amplified flotation element could take a part of the kinetic energy of the rotating air to suck in extra air. The intake hole greatly affects the pressure field and velocity field of the flotation element. Additionally, the effects of the variant gap height and supplied flow rate were also discussed. The results indicate that the pressure distribution decreases as the gap height increases and increases as the supplied flow rate increases.

In the past few decades, brake pad-rotor interface friction studies have gained high importance in the automotive industry. The goal of these studies has been to improve the design to maximize the contact area and performance in brakes. In these studies, friction coefficient has always assumed to be the same for linear and rotational motion. In our study, we show that the rotational and linear friction process have different friction coefficients. We use semi-metallic and ceramic brake material pads reduced into brake samples using scaling laws of physics. The samples were mounted on the Universal Mechanical Tester and experimented for linear and rotational friction process against Pearlitic Gray cast iron rotor. From results, it proved friction coefficients of linear movement is always higher than the rotational movement. The linear friction coefficient was found to be 43% higher on an average than the rotational friction coefficient in both the materials tested at 1MPa and 10 mm/s. These results will help industry in gaining better fundamental understanding about the friction coefficients of rotor- brake contact interfaces.

Preservation and protection of the head segment is of upmost importance due to the criticality of the functions entailed in this section of the body by the brain and the nervous system. Numerous events in daily life situations such as transportation and sports pose threats of injuries that may end or change a person’s life. In the European Union, statistics report that almost 4.2 million of road users are injured non-fatally, out of which 18% is represented by motorcyclist and 40% by cyclists, being head injuries 34% for bicyclists, and 24% for two-wheeled motor vehicles. Not only vehicles, are a source of injuries for the human head according to the injury report, 6,1 million people are admitted in hospitals for sports related injuries, where sports such as hockey, swimming, cycling presented head injuries up to 28%, 25% and 16% respectively (European Association for Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, 2013).  According to records the vast majority of head crashes result in an oblique impact (Thibault & Gennarelli, 1985). These types of impacts are characterized for involving a rotation of the head segment which is correlated with serious head injuries. Even though there is plenty of evidence suggesting the involvement of rotational forces current helmet development standards and regulations fail to recognize their importance and account only for translational impact tests. This thesis contains an evaluation for a different developed method for testing oblique impacts. In consequence a new test rig was constructed with basis on a guided free fall of a helmeted dummy head striking an oblique (angled) anvil which will induce rotation. The results obtained are intended to be subjected to a comparison with another oblique test rig that performs experiments utilizing a movable sliding plate which when impacted induces the rotation of a dropped helmeted dummy head. The outcome will solidify the presence of rotational forces at head-anvil impact and offer an alternative testing method. After setting up the new test rig; experiments were conducted utilizing bicycle helmets varying the velocities before impact from 5m/s to 6m/s crashing an angled anvil of 45°. Results showed higher peak resultant values for rotational accelerations and rotational velocities in the new test rig compared to the movable plate impact test, indicating that depending on the impact situation the “Normal Force” has a direct effect on the rotational components. On the other hand a performed finite element analysis predicted that the best correlation between both methods is when the new angled anvil impact test is submitted to crashes with a velocity before impact of 6 m/s at 45° and the movable sliding impact test to a resultant velocity vector of 7,6m/s with an angle of 30° . In conclusion the new test method is meant to provide a comparison between two different test rigs that will undoubtedly have a part in the analysis for helmet and head safety improvements.

Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) has in recent years become a more important building material. This means that the demand for accurate calculation methods in building standards such as Eurocode 5 has increased. There is limited knowledge about the connections in CLT buildings which is an important part of a CLT structure. This thesis was therefore focused on investigating a wall-floor-wall type connection commonly found in platform type buildings.  An experimental and numerical study on typical wall-floor-wall connections was carried out in this thesis. In the experimental part 60 tests with 8 different configurations were conducted to investigate the influence of different parameters on the connection, moment capacity and rotational stiffness. During the tests the deformation of the specimens under four load levels were investigated. Compression tests were also performed on the specimens to determine the compressive strength and stiffness of the elements. In the numerical part two different models for the connection were created. One simplified model with rotational springs and one more complex model with compression springs. With these models the influence from the number of stories, span and thickness of the wall on the global behavior of a structure was investigated.  The result from this thesis shows that there is both moment capacity and rotational stiffness in the wall-floor-wall type connection that can be utilized in the design phase of a structure. This was proven by both the experimental and the numerical study. The parameters that influence the behavior of the connection most were the load level applied on the wall and the wall thickness. The model created in the numerical study showed great potential regarding the replication of the connection behavior observed in the experimental study.

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